Tenderly So is an excellent title for the latest release from Webster’s Wheel. The tandem of Daniel Lee Webster and Marie Robertson’s ten tracks for this album are varied, rarely retreading familiar ground, but share important similarities. You will not hear electric instruments anywhere on Tenderly So. Robertson and Webster have a clear loyalty to acoustic music born out of personal recognition that it’s an ideal vehicle for their songs rather than catering to fashion. Many adjectives are applicable to Webster’s Wheel’s music, but timeless is one we can all agree on.
“Woke Up Like a Wolf” is a title and song lending itself to several credible interpretations. The duo gives listeners a musical template for everything that follows without ever locking themselves into critical components such as pace, tone, and melody. Every song builds around their duetting vocals. Robertson, more often than not, takes the top line melody, but the production and performances alike never diminish Webster’s vocal importance. “Before I Decide” is an excellent follow-up. It’s a little less inviting than its predecessor, listeners may hear an introspective turn in the songwriting, but the co-lead vocal is every bit as successful while keeping a clear distinction between their voices.
The gradual unfolding of the lyrics for “Yankee Dimes” will have ardent fans of this style on the edges of their seat. Many of the duo’s songs are structured as dialogues between two or more “characters” in the song and it’s obviously the compositions were written with Webster;s Wheel in mind as their means of delivery. Songs such as this do emphasize, however, the duo’s imaginative loyalties and tethering it to such a specific region may have an alienating effect on listeners they don’t want to lose.
The conciliatory mood defining many songs is heavy during “Confederate Roses” as well and the song’s unstated sorrows are considerable. Music and lyrics alike are a masterful blend of the poetic and commonplace. The former finds art in life’s beauty, however, rather than invoking it as a rhetorical device. It’s this realness in the duo’s songs that listeners will respond to and it’s near peak levels here. Webster’s Wheel continues taking a knowing look at questions haunting us all during the song “That’s Not Us” and it’s perhaps one of the album’s overlooked gems and the lyrics give interested listeners a lot to unpack.
“Life’s Ferry” represents not just the album’s end but a critical point where every bit of the collection’s earlier promise pays off. It is a bold statement. The cool, almost painterly quality of how the tandem portrays the song’s overall theme for listeners is evidence of its excellence and the instrumental choices supporting the work are fitting. It’s the sort of song that, in the hands of lesser talents, might have come off sounding heavy-footed. Webster’s Wheel steps lightly and it pays off. Tenderly So rates as more than one of 2022’s best “roots” releases, it is one of the best this genre has produced in some years.
Heather Savage